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Biomedical subjects

D E Snider

Publications and source records attributed to D E Snider.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Tuberculosis diagnosed at death in the United States.

From 1985 through 1988, 5.1 percent of TB cases reported in the United States were diagnosed at death. Differences in the proportions diagnosed at death by race/ethnicity, sex, and place of birth (United States vs foreign-born) were relatively small. The proportion of cases diagnosed at death increased with age, from 0.7 percent in patients less than 5 years old to 18.6 percent among patients 85 years and older. Only 26.0 percent of cases diagnosed alive were among those 65 years and older, but 60.3 percent of those diagnosed at death were in this age group. Eighteen percent of cases with miliary, meningeal and peritoneal TB were diagnosed at death, compared with 4.8 percent among those with pulmonary TB. These data indicate that TB too often remains unrecognized and that, to prevent continuing deaths from this curable disease, a high index of suspicion of TB remains important, particularly among the elderly and among persons with extrapulmonary sites of disease.

Adolescent

Myths of tuberculosis.

Myths, or misconceptions, of disease and therapy are not confined to patients; they also affect those who practice medicine. Myths are particularly evident in a "dogma" that concerns diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis. If the elimination of tuberculosis is to be achieved, we must first eliminate the myths, which impede prevention and control of the disease.

Attitude of Health Personnel

Tuberculosis morbidity in the United States: final data, 1990.

The number of tuberculosis cases reported to CDC has been increasing since 1988, after a long historic decline. In 1990, 25,701 cases were reported, an increase of 9.4% over the 1989 figure and the largest annual increase since 1953. From 1985 to 1990, reported cases increased by 15.8%. Disproportionately greater increases in reported cases occurred among Hispanics, non-Hispanic blacks, and Asians/Pacific Islanders. In contrast, decreases were observed among non-Hispanic whites and American Indians/Alaskan Natives. By age, the largest increase in reported cases occurred in the 25- to 44-year age group; this increase may be largely attributable to rising numbers of tuberculosis cases among persons with human immunodeficiency virus infection or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Notable increases also occurred among children. The proportion of cases among foreign-born persons has risen steadily, from 21.6% in 1986 to 24.4% in 1990.

Adolescent

Guidelines for preventing the transmission of tuberculosis in health-care settings, with special focus on HIV-related issues.

The transmission of tuberculosis is a recognized risk in health-care settings. Several recent outbreaks of tuberculosis in health-care settings, including outbreaks involving multidrug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, have heightened concern about nosocomial transmission. In addition, increases in tuberculosis cases in many areas are related to the high risk of tuberculosis among persons infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Transmission of tuberculosis to persons with HIV infection is of particular concern because they are at high risk of developing active tuberculosis if infected. Health-care workers should be particularly alert to the need for preventing tuberculosis transmission in settings in which persons with HIV infection receive care, especially settings in which cough-inducing procedures (e.g., sputum induction and aerosolized pentamidine [AP] treatments) are being performed. Transmission is most likely to occur from patients with unrecognized pulmonary or laryngeal tuberculosis who are not on effective antituberculosis therapy and have not been placed in tuberculosis (acid-fast bacilli [AFB]) isolation. Health-care facilities in which persons at high risk for tuberculosis work or receive care should periodically review their tuberculosis policies and procedures, and determine the actions necessary to minimize the risk of tuberculosis transmission in their particular settings. The prevention of tuberculosis transmission in health-care settings requires that all of the following basic approaches be used: a) prevention of the generation of infectious airborne particles (droplet nuclei) by early identification and treatment of persons with tuberculous infection and active tuberculosis, b) prevention of the spread of infectious droplet nuclei into the general air circulation by applying source-control methods, c) reduction of the number of infectious droplet nuclei in air contaminated with them, and d) surveillance of health-care-facility personnel for tuberculosis and tuberculous infection. Experience has shown that when inadequate attention is given to any of these approaches, the probability of tuberculosis transmission is increased. Specific actions to reduce the risk of tuberculosis transmission should include a) screening patients for active tuberculosis and tuberculous infection, b) providing rapid diagnostic services, c) prescribing appropriate curative and preventive therapy, d) maintaining physical measures to reduce microbial contamination of the air, e) providing isolation rooms for persons with, or suspected of having, infectious tuberculosis, f) screening health-care-facility personnel for tuberculous infection and tuberculosis, and g) promptly investigating and controlling outbreaks. Although completely eliminating the risk of tuberculosis transmission in all health-care settings may be impossible, adhering to these guidelines should minimize the risk to persons in these settings.

Air Microbiology

Extrapulmonary tuberculosis in the United States.

From 1963 to 1986, the number of reported cases of pulmonary tuberculosis in the United States declined an average of 5.0% annually, and the number of cases of extrapulmonary tuberculosis declined an average of 0.9% annually over the same period. In 1986, 17.5% of all cases of tuberculosis were extrapulmonary. Of pulmonary cases, 63.0% occurred among racial ethnic minorities and the foreign-born, whereas of extrapulmonary cases, the respective proportion was 71.2%. After adjustment for other variables, the proportion of extrapulmonary tuberculosis among all patients with tuberculosis by age was found to be largest in children and generally to decrease with increasing age, larger among black, Asian, and American Indian than among non-Hispanic white patients, larger among female than among male patients, and larger among the foreign-born than among patients born in the United States. The smaller decline in extrapulmonary tuberculosis over the years may be partially due to changes in the demographic characteristics of patients with tuberculosis. Considerable differences in susceptibility to different sites of extrapulmonary tuberculosis by age, race/ethnicity, sex, and country of origin were found. The reasons for these differences remain largely unexplained.

Age Factors

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and extrapulmonary tuberculosis in the United States.

Of 48,712 acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control from October 1987 through March 1989, 1239 (2.5%) were diagnosed with extrapulmonary tuberculosis. Extrapulmonary tuberculosis was diagnosed in 1013 (2.3%) of the US-born persons with AIDS, compared with 26 (8%) of the Mexican-born, 82 (13%) of the Haitian-born, and 4 (1%) of the Cuban-born. Patients with AIDS with and without extrapulmonary tuberculosis were similar in age, except that extrapulmonary tuberculosis was relatively rare in patients with AIDS under the age 10. Compared with white homosexual/bisexual men, black race (odds ratio, 2.7), intravenous drug use (odds ratio, 2.0), heterosexual AIDS transmission category (odds ratio, 1.9), and Hispanic ethnicity (odds ratio, 1.6) were independently associated with extrapulmonary tuberculosis. In 1988, extrapulmonary tuberculosis in persons known to be human immunodeficiency virus seropositive represented 21% of national extrapulmonary tuberculosis morbidity.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Tuberculosis control in refugee settlements.

Tuberculosis and its management in refugees and other displaced persons in temporary settlements poses a challenge to organisations coordinating and providing care in refugee emergencies. This paper offers a consensus of the co-sponsoring agencies on practical recommendations for implementing measures aimed at both interrupting transmission of tuberculosis and treatment of individual patients.

Humans

Epidemiology of tuberculosis in the United States.

Over the past 30 years, the risk of tuberculous infection is estimated to have declined by approximately 8.3 per cent annually. Over that period, the incidence of tuberculosis declined between 5 and 6 per cent annually, and the mortality rate has declined by about 7.3 per cent annually. However, tuberculosis has not receded uniformly among all segments of the population. The steepest decline has been observed in children five to 14 years of age, and the smallest decline has been observed in the elderly. Among adults, the decline has been steeper among whites than among other racial groups. In the 1980s, the annual risk of tuberculous infection in the general population is estimated to be as low as or lower than one in 10,000. It is narrowly concentrated among contacts, particularly close contacts, of known cases. The risk is highest among those who are exposed to sputum smearpositive cases. The incidence of tuberculosis in 1987 was 9.3 per 100,000 in the general population, but varied widely among different segments of the population. Although incidence increases with age among all race and ethnic groups, cases in minorities are concentrated among young adults, while cases in non-Hispanic whites are concentrated among the elderly. These differences are mostly attributable to differences in the risk of tuberculous infection, because, once a person is infected, the risk of progression to tuberculosis is similar among blacks and whites and among males and females (although two age groups, young children and adolescents, appear to be especially prone to progression). This suggests that with the passage of time, succession of new generations experiencing lower risk of infection will reduced the prevalence of tuberculous infection much more rapidly in the non-Hispanic white population than in minority populations. Among factors that modify the risk of progression from subclinical infection to tuberculosis are recency of infection and infection resulting from transmission by a sputum smear-positive source case. Only a few of the many risk factors that have been identified as promoting progression can be considered major contributors to morbidity, because most are not highly prevalent. A major exception may be HIV infection, which, although not yet highly prevalent in the US population, appears to be the strongest factor yet identified that is capable of promoting progression to tuberculosis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Humans